Cop identified as gunman in Tawi-Tawi vice mayor’s slay

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — A police officer has been identified as the alleged gunman in the killing of a Tawi-Tawi town vice mayor last month, according to police officials.

Police Officer 3 Mohammad Lacbao Tulete of the Lamitan police was recently charged with murder in connection with the killing of Vice Mayor Al-Rashid Mohammad Ali in this city on July 27, Chief Superintendent Billy Beltran, Zamboanga peninsula police director, said yesterday. 

Senior Inspector Shellamie Chang, Zamboanga City police spokesperson, said they are coordinating with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police to determine if Ali went absent without official leave following the incident. 

Chang said several witnesses positively identified Tulete as the gunman. 

Ali was in a Toyota Innova service vehicle driven by his daughter with his wife and security escorts when the gunman blocked their way and shot the vice mayor several times along Alvarez street.

Chang said probers are looking at politics as the motive for the killing. 

Ali was reportedly being groomed to succeed his father as mayor of Sapa-Sapa. 

“We are conducting pursuit operations... We had a problem locating the suspect, who most likely had sensed that we are hunting him down,” Chang said. 

She said a local court has issued a warrant for Tulete’s arrest.